News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Protest against direction to schools to buy book on festivals

Members of the United Minorities Front staged a protest
here on Saturday against the government for directing school libraries
to buy
Bharatiyara Habba Haridinagalu
(Festivals of Indians), a 640-page book.

The book
written by Sri Sri Rangapriya, a Sanskrit scholar and head of
Asthangayoga Vijnana Mandiram here, makes a mention of only Hindu
festivals and does not mention Ramzan, Christmas, Good Friday and Buddha
Poornima. The Department of State Education Research and Training has
directed government primary and high schools to buy at least one copy of
the book for their libraries.

Condemning the move,
Hanuman C. of the United Minorities Front, said: “This is saffronisation
of education. The book gives an impression that no other community
exists.”

Dalit Sangharsh Samiti secretary Mavalli
Shankar said: “India is a multi-religious nation and the government
should not try to scuttle this reality”. He added that the government is
not following the Indian Constitution.

A book on ‘Indian’ festivals omits non-Hindu occasions

A reference book on festivals observed by ‘Indians,’
prescribed by the Karnataka government for school libraries across the
State, carries in it only those observed by Hindus.

While
30 pages of ‘Bharatiyara Habba Haridinagalu’ (or Festivals of Indians)
are dedicated to explaining Upakarma, there is not a single word on
Ramzan, Good Friday, Buddha Purnima, or any non-Hindu festival
celebrated in the country.

A December 2011 circular
sent by the Directorate of State Educational Research and Training
(DSERT) directs primary and high schools to buy at least one copy of the
book for their library.

640 pages

At
a voluminous 640 pages, the Kannada book written by Sri Sri Rangapriya,
Sanskrit scholar and head of the Ashtangayoga Vijnana Mandiram,
Hanumanthnagar, Bangalore, is priced at Rs. 500.

While
the cover of the book primarily features Hindu iconography — the sage
and the holy cow, ‘kalash’ (offerings given during a Hindu ritual), a
temple gopura and devotees with hands joined in prayer — the rest of the
book doesn’t deviate from the Hinduism theme.

‘Reflecting

Indian culture’

The DSERT, in its circular, describes the contents of the book as “reflecting Indian culture.”

Though
the title says these are festivals celebrated by Indians, the book
manages to cover only the major Hindu religious dates, 23 of them,
besides mentioning birthdays of Hindu religious sages.

From
festivals such as Ugadi, Ramanavami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Deepavali,
Mahashivaratri and Akshaya Tritiya to lesser-known ones such as Subbraya
Shrasthi and Rathasaptami, and even religious days observed primarily
by the upper castes, such as Chathurmasa, Upakarma, Ananthapadmanabha
Vrath and Narasimha Jayanti, are given detailed descriptions in the
book.

Why is it that Ramzan, Id-ul-Fitr, Christmas,
Good Friday, Buddha Purnima, Mahaveer Jayanti and Guru Nanak Jayanti
find no place in the book, asks Nooruddin Salmar of the Dakshina Kannada
Congress Minority Committee.

Talking to
The Hindu
, Mr. Salmar said the manner in which the order was quietly circulated,
pointed to an increasing trend of saffronisation of education and
emphasis on the Hindutva agenda seen under the Bharatiya Janata Party
government.

“Aren’t Muslims, Christians, Jains,
Parsis and animist tribes also Indians? Is it right to teach
schoolchildren that only Hindus are Indians,” he asked.

Charge denied

Denying
a ‘saffron tint’ to the book, DSERT Director Rama Rao said the book was
chosen after the directorate deemed it “educationally suitable” for
students.

“All the festivals mentioned in the book
are celebrated pan-India. I don’t see why anyone has a problem with the
title. One has to look at it with an open mind, and we believe the book
to have adequate information for students,” Mr. Rao said.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Teachers will now not be given assignments like survey and data collection works

Submitted on 07/02/2012 - 10:45:57 AMPatna: Bihar
will no more engage school teachers in non-teaching assignments like
survey and data collection works, an official said Saturday. The
decision comes after protests by thousands of teachers and experts that
such tasks take a toll on the quality of teaching.
"The school teachers will not be engaged in various kinds of periodic
census and survey works to be assigned either by the central or the
state government for the collection of data on different kinds of
social, economic, health and other activities," Planning and Development
Department (PDD) Principal Secretary Vijay Prakash said.
"School teachers will be free from census and survey works. This is a
positive move to improve equality of education in the state," Prakash
said.
The government's decision comes after complaints of teacher
organisations and educational experts that teachers' engagement in
non-teaching works hampers teaching in schools, he said.http://www.igovernment.in/site/bihar-spare-teachers-non-teaching-jobs?utm_source=newsletter-core&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120702